Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in critical condition, 6 others killed in Arizona

[Torie]

Oh my God. How horrible.

[Torie]

He probably has schizophrenia,  a disease with which I am all too familiar. It is rather typical that the voices command you to do rather horrific things, and even someone rather pacific ordinarily during a break can commit violence. In the case with which I am familiar, the voices commanded that a random pedestrian on the street be punched. In this case, the voice commands were attended by the perps' very weird view of the world (much of which was probably written while he was sliding downhill into the abyss (as to which I am also familiar). That is my educated guess.

Whether he is criminally insane is another matter. That is a very high standard to meet. Handling better those suffering from serious mental illness is a very important priority. Doing better on that, would prevent a fair number of violent crimes, not to mention assorted and sundry other tragedies, like suicide (the voices tend to be fascinated by suicide for some reason).

[Torie]

I'm a little confused how a paranoid schizophrenic was allowed to get a semi-automatic weapon in the first place.

Among other things, this might well have been his first break, which typically happens at about his age (he was 21), as the  approaching physical maturation of the brain for reasons we don't understand, make one with a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, have a break based on some triggering event, and we don't understand what that trigger is either. Some think it is a virus or something. It is generally considered now that it is not related to stress, or drugs for that matter (although once you have had a break, drugs then are indeed a factor in triggering the next). It is all quite a mystery. But we know there is a plus factor, because we have instances of identical twins, where one is a schizophrenic, and the other is not.

[Torie]

The child who died was 9 years old.

Giffords's wound was a through-and-through on "one side of the brain".  If the previous report that she was capable of speaking is true, it's quite likely that means the wound was in her right hemisphere.

Shot "one time in the head through and through" does not necessarily mean the bullet hit her brain.  The head contains more than the brain.  

The good news is that doctors are optimistic about the Congresswoman's recovery.  The bad news is that others still died.

Would they've brought neurologists in and had them operate if it was just a shot to the jaw?

EDIT: Hmm, check this out.  Right temporal and frontal lobes, if anywhere... not bad, all things considered.

I was afraid that even if she 'survived' a shot to her head, she would be practically brain-dead and remain indefinitely on life-support.

Is it safe to say she is out of the woods on that count at least?  

The Doc said she was responding to commands, so she is apparently in better shape than that - thank God.

[Torie]

Truncating free speech over this, either de jure (which of course will not happen), or de facto, is at once both futile and unwise. JMO. And I would hope whatever political party thinks they can gain some advantage over this - fails.

[Torie]

Fathoming what causes man to commit horrific acts, and how in good conscience to figure out in advance with whom to intervene, and how Draconially, either via the criminal justice system, or civil court, without sliding towards 1984, is complicated, attended by a lot of we just don't know; and we probably should realize that we just don't know about much of this, and act with caution.

In any event, it requires a very careful balancing of the competing considerations, including trying to foresee what, that without really pondering it now, might later be characterized as negative unintended consequences, and on and on and on.  I am not sure what more generic social programs and so forth might reasonably be expected really to be of much relevance here, but I suppose I could be persuaded, particularly because I have not thought through that matter in any depth.

So walk humbly is my opinion, on this sort of thing. But one thing I do know. We do a horrific job with the mentally ill, and if we did a far better job, this is one area where I am pretty confident that in the long run we could save not only money, but lives, and avoid in all events a lot of heartache.

Thanks for another good one, Anvik.  

[Torie]

It does appear that some sentience is there - thank heavens. Nothing is more horrible to me I don't think than being rendered into an insentient state. I would much prefer death.